1993 Mitchell Luger

[HisSoldier]

the Springfield is made of a much berrer grade of SS

We make stainless parts for some guns, the alloy is 416 half hard material, preheat treated. I believe 416 is the most common alloys used for guns, that and 17-4 PH. These are heat treatable alloys, and can be made reasonably hard. There are other special alloys used for casting, and I think of Ruger and what they have done with stainless castings, great stuff.

Consider the 1911. As originally designed some areas, and some entire parts, need to be pretty hard, and it's hard to get these alloys to the required hardnesses. We accept a little tradeoff for the joy of corrosion resistance, stainless steels are just not as good as alloy steels in severe stress areas, period.

But I get the idea that the Houston guns are not using the best stainless alloys, just from what I've read. Is that possible?